We come to two admittedly awkward incidents in Mark. Jesus refers to a woman as a dog, and then he apparently rubs his spit on a man's tongue. Both events strike our modern ears as problematic. And frankly, they are hard passages, but not for the reasons we initially think. We've been saying ad nauseam that Mark's main question is "who is this?" At no time is that question more apt than when we encounter passages that make us balk at things Jesus does. Let's talk about “Hard Words & Spit” (Mark 7:24-37).
